The first MendByMe free pop-up shop of 2025 will take place this Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1, at the Peekskill Elks Lodge on Brown Street. On Friday, the pop-up shop will be open from 3:30 to 7 p.m. and on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The free pop-up shop offers a diverse range of gently used, cleaned goods, including clothing, shoes, toys, kitchen items, and much more for people in need. The pop-up shop is a place where one can find a variety of quality items at no cost, allowing everyone to shop with love and respect. Shoppers can explore the curated selection of clothing and wares, designed to support the entire community.

“MendByMe is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization, started in 2019 with the help of then-Mayor Andre Rainey,” said MendByMe’s Johanne Read. “We held our first event at the Kiley Center, where we served about 55 people who could each take six items each. Since then, we’ve grown tremendously, now serving over 2,300 people annually and distributing more than 35,000 items of clothing and household goods each year. The organization hosts four annual events, providing over 5,000 free items of gently used or dormant clothing, shoes, and other textiles to hundreds of local families in and around the community. For the past four years, the Historic Peekskill Elks Lodge # 744 have generously hosted the MendByMe Pop-up shops, creating a welcoming, safe space for our community to gather and benefit from these resources. We’ve always aimed to make the pop-ups as accessible as possible, which is why we expanded over the past year to two-day events. This change has helped manage crowds and ensure more people have the opportunity to attend.”

Not only does the organization ensure that everyone who visits its Pop-Up Shop feels cared for and respected, regardless of their circumstances; they also value the goods already present in our economy by embracing the principles of recycling, reusing, and repurposing. By repurposing donated and used clothing, MendByMe breathes new life into donated, used, and dormant clothing and items, and then creating free pop-up shops that provide essential resources to those in need. That makes a positive impact on people’s lives, and in turn diverts waste from going to landfills or the garbage burning plant. In addition to the pop-up shops, Read stated, “We also provide emergency assistance to individuals facing crises—fire victims, domestic violence survivors, or newly arrived families in need.” Thus the organization lives up to its tagline: “People helping people” with kindness, compassion, and humility.

To volunteer, or donate to the organization, contact Johanne Read via email at [email protected]. MendByMe accepts gently used or new clothing, shoes, accessories, household items and monetary donations to purchase items to wash, clean and mend clothing.  

To learn more about MendByMe, follow its Instagram page. To learn more about Johanne Read and MendByMe, read the 2020 story in the Peekskill Herald.

Don’t forget to tell everyone at the the Elks Lodge and the MendByMe Pop-Up shop that you read about it in the Peekskill Herald.

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